Friedkin’s “Sorcerer” Scores A Re-Release

After many years mired in a complicated legal mess, it looks like William Friedkin’s acclaimed 1977 cult film “Sorcerer” may finally resurface.

A remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s classic “The Wages of Fear,” the film tells the story of four criminals hiding out in Nicaragua who are given the task of transporting unstable “sweating” dynamite two hundred miles through the South American jungle to help extinguish an oil fire.

Last year, Friedkin sued Universal and Paramount to determine who owns the rights. Though the lawsuit was dropped, that action seems to have had an effect with a re-colored digital print put into production.

“we’re working off the original negative, which is in pretty good shape, but without changing the original concept we have to bring it back in terms of color saturation, sharpness and all the stuff” Friedkin tells the trade paper.

The aim is for this clean new print to premiere at the Venice Film Festival if the restoration can be done in time.